Three more cases of poliovirus in Balochistan, KP take year’s tally to 55

ISLAMABAD: The government’s efforts to curb the spread of poliovirus appear to be failing as three more cases have been reported from Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The new cases were reported days after a Global Polio Eradication Initiative delegation met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other officials to discuss “strategies to combat the poliovirus outbreak and to address emerging challenges”.

Pakistan has now reported 55 cases of poliovirus in 2024. The widespread detection of cases and indication of the virus’ presence in several cities depict the immunity gap among children.

The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the three wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases.

A lab official told Dawn that new cases were reported from Dera Ismail Khan, Zhob and Jaffarabad. The victims were female children aged 8 and 20 months and a five-month-old male child.

All three districts have already reported a case of poliovirus this year.

D.I. Khan has been one of the seven polio-endemic districts in southern KP South KP, where routine immunisation programmes have faced significant challenges in accessing all vulnerable children during the last three years. D.I. Khan has now reported six polio cases.

Similar challenges are prevalent in Balochistan, where Zhob and Jaffarabad districts have reported three and two cases, respectively, in 2024.

The districts form part of central Pakistan, another epidemiologically important zone that has been detecting the virus repeatedly for over a year, linked to core reservoirs of Quetta block as well as Karachi,“ he said.

Of the total 55 cases reported so far, 26 have been reported from Balochistan, 14 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 13 from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2024